Prosecutors say Pence suggested a “face-saving option” for Trump accepting a 2020 election loss weeks before the January 6 attack.
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s repeated attempts to convince Donald Trump to accept he lost the 2020 election have been detailed in new court filings.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team listed multiple alleged discussionsTrump and Pence had in the post-2020 election period, including an apparent “face-saving option” from Pence that the former president should not publicly concede but “recognize the process is over.”
The conversations were relayed in a 165-page court filing from federal prosecutors and partly unsealed Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, just over a month before Election Day. The filing alleges Trump was well aware that he had lost the 2020 election because of conversations he had with his inner circle, but still “resorted to crimes” to stay in office.
Trump described Smith’s brief on Truth Social as a “falsehood-ridden, unconstitutional” filing submitted in response to Tim Walz’s “disastrous” vice presidential debate performance.
Newsweek has contacted Smith’s office, Trump’s campaign team, and Pence’s office for comment via email outside of regular office hours.
The brief was submitted by Smith’s team in the wake of the landmark Supreme Court decision granting Trump at least presumptive presidential immunity for officials acts performed while in office. The superseding indictment against Trump largely carries the four federal charges that the former president pleaded not guilty to. The updated fillings removed some allegations to keep in line with the Supreme Court ruling, essentially portraying Trump acting not as president but as a candidate for office.
The indictment kept claims Trump repeatedly pressured Pence to not certify the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021, while the vice president carried out his purely ceremonial role as presiding officer of the Senate.
The unsealed filings said one of the conversations Trump and Pence had in the wake of the 2020 election was the vice president stating he found no evidence of voter fraud that would have affected the outcome of the race.
